Yi Qing moved to take the set of clothes, then glanced at Shen Ying. He did not take a single step away."What are you looking at her for?" Lonemoon pursed his lips. "Can she help you change?"
He remained still, but looked increasingly anxious.
Shen Ying looked at him and said, "I won"t leave."
Yi Qing"s facial expression relaxed. He tugged at the clothes in front of him and looked confused. "What is this?" Why were his clothes in pieces?
Lonemoon nearly forgot that Chef was not from this world.
The corner of Lonemoon"s mouth twitched before he took the clothes back. He shot a look at Shen Ying, then pulled Yi Qing into the toilet. "Come in." He closed the door with a loud bang to prevent a certain someone from peeking. They began to discuss matters in the toilet.
"Strip. Even your pants!"
"Why?"
"Just listen to me when I tell you to. Stop talking so much nonsense. Why aren"t you moving? Take off your pants!"
"Oh."
"Bend down. Raise your leg up… higher. How can I move if you don"t raise your leg!"
"Are you done?"
"Alright, come closer. If you cannot balance, you can hang on to me."
"Well… your thing is so tight."
"You"re not afraid of pain. Why are you afraid of a little tightness! Bear with it!"
Shen Ying, who was outside the door: "…"
She felt like she was listening to something dirty.
The two men remained in the toilet for close to 20 minutes before they emerged. Yi Qing looked completely different. He was wearing a white T-s.h.i.+rt, just like Lonemoon. Father Niu had the look of a rich man from every angle. Yet, Yi Qing looked like a teenage boy fresh out of the playground. His skin was extremely radiant - he looked just like the boy next door.
Yi Qing tugged at his clothes uncomfortably until his gaze finally landed on Shen Ying. He stopped fidgeting, as if somebody just locked him down. Hesitantly, he asked, "Master?"
"Yes?"
"It"s getting late. Are you hungry? Do you want me to whip up a couple of dishes?"
Lonemoon: "…"
Shen Ying: "…"
Did he have to go back to his role so quickly!
Surprisingly, Shen Ying did not agree. She chewed on her apple and scanned his long hair. Then, she patted the sofa. "Come here."
Yi Qing walked over briskly.
"Squat down."
"Master?"
She picked up a black eraser from the tea table next to her and pointed to his back. "Your hair."
Yi Qing paused, then understood. He sat down next to her obediently, hugged his knees and rolled himself up into a ball. He felt her fingers comb through his smooth hair, soothing his heart with each stroke. All the helplessness and pain of not being able to find Shen Ying despite searching high and low for thousands of years slowly seeped u of his body. In an instant, his heart began to fill up once again. He could hardly stop himself from smiling.
Lonemoon, who was watching Shen Ying comb through Yi Qing"s hair, pursed his lips. For some reason, he felt a salty tang in the air.
"Chef, how did you even get to this world?" Lonemoon changed the topic.
Yi Qing"s expression fell and he answered in a low voice, "I… I couldn"t find you, so I returned to the immortal realm and found the G.o.dfiend. He helped me step through the realm gates."
"How did he help you?" Lonemoon looked at him suspiciously. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d was so cunning - he had not spoken a word of truth from beginning to the end. If he had not cheated them, they would not have been sent back.
"Indeed, he did not agree." Yi Qing frowned. "So I fought with him."
Lonemoon"s eyes widened. "He injured you like that?" Impressive! He could take on an ancient G.o.d all by himself.
"No!" Yi Qing shook his head. "This happened when I was stepping through the gates. I got injured by the messy flow of the auras."
"What flow of auras?" Lonemoon turned to face Shen Ying. "We didn"t feel any aura flowing when we came back!"
"We didn"t," Shen Ying said as she continued to stroke Yi Qing"s hair. "We"re from here. Of course we would not be rejected by the plane." Chef intruded by force. Even if the gates were opened, he it was no surprise that he was attacked by the messy flow of auras.
So that was the case. Lonemoon nodded and looked at Yi Qing. For some reason, he looked different from before. Yet, Lonemoon could not put his finger to it.
"You"re a Supreme Divinity now!" Lonemoon scanned him from head to toe and finally realised that his cultivation level had increased by so much. He looked even stronger than Hongyu did before. No, to be exact, he resembled the G.o.dfiend. If Yi Qing had not been injured, Lonemoon might not have been able to fend off the intense suppressive force that he was radiating. What"s more, he no longer looked like a child. "You beat the G.o.dfiend?"
"Not really…" Yi Qing lowered his gaze. Nearing the end of the battle, even he could not tell who was winning and who was losing.
"Then why did he open the gates for you?"
"Maybe because I went over to find him many many times?"
"Many many times?" The corner of Lonemoon"s mouth twitched. "How many times did you fight him?"
"A few… hundred times?" He could not remember.
"…" He must have gone to look for the G.o.dfiend every single day.
Wait a moment!
Did the G.o.dfiend open the gates because he was annoyed at the number of times Yi Qing was visiting him?
"Later, I met Shortie. She helped me. The G.o.dfiend finally agreed to open the gates to the alternate world."
"Meng Po?" A strange expression flashed across Lonemoon"s face. "Why… did she help you?"
"I don"t know either. But she was the one who helped me get back to the immortal realm and lead the G.o.dfiend over." Otherwise, Yi Qing would never have been able to find the G.o.dfiend.
Lonemoon clenched his fists by his sides. He could not figure out why Meng Po would help Yi Qing. She was just like the G.o.dfiend - one of the ancient G.o.ds. She should have been on the G.o.dfiend"s side. What"s more, she knew that the G.o.dfiend was going to send him and Shen Ying back, and agreed to do so as well. Why did she help Yi Qing then? Was she Shortie or Meng Po?
"Chef!" Shen Ying suddenly spoke. "How long were we gone for?"
Yi Qing paused and s.h.i.+vered. After a moment of silence, he whispered, "3000 years."
"What!" Lonemoon jumped. He knew that time and s.p.a.ce worked differently there, but he did not think that so much time would have pa.s.sed. All this time, Yi Qing did not give up looking for them.
Suddenly, he felt a chill in his heart. Although Chef really did not look like much on the surface, he did not give up hope even after so much time. He even chased them all the way to this plane. Lonemoon could not imagine how he lived all those years.
"Thankfully, I succeeded." Yi Qing looked relaxed. He leaned back toward Shen Ying, satisfied. It was good that he found Master. As long as he could be with her, all the years of fighting was… worth it
Shen Ying"s hand paused. It was a few seconds before she resumed stroking his hair.